The exhortation to believing Jews as to the word spoken, the
word of salvation

This is the reason why it is so much the more needful to hearken
to the word spoken, in order that they should not let it pass away
from life and memory.

God had maintained the authority of the word that was
communicated by means of angels, punishing disobedience to it, for
it was a law. How then shall we escape if we neglect a salvation
which the Lord Himself has announced? Thus the service of the Lord
among the Jews was a word of salvation, which the apostles
confirmed, and which the mighty testimony of the Holy Ghost
established.

Such is the exhortation addressed to the believing Jews, founded
on the glory of the Messiah, whether with regard to His position or
His Person, calling them away from what was Jewish to higher
thoughts of Christ.

The Lord's testimony to Israel; its confirmation

We have already remarked that the testimony of which this
epistle treats, is attributed to the Lord Himself. Therefore we
must not expect to find in it the assembly (as such), of which the
Lord had only spoken prophetically; but His testimony in relation
to Israel, among whom He sojourned on the earth, to whatever extent
that testimony reached. That which was spoken by the apostles is
only treated here as a confirmation of the Lord's own word, God
having added His testimony to it by the miraculous manifestations
of the Spirit, who distributed His gifts to each according to His
will.

The Lord's glory as Son of Man, in connection with the world to
come, excluding angels altogether

The glory of which we have been speaking is the personal glory
of the Messiah, the Son of David; and His glory in the time
present, during which God has called Him to sit at His right
hand. He is the Son of God, He is even the Creator; but there is
also His glory in connection with the world to come, as Son of
man. Of this Hebrews 2 speaks, comparing Him still with the angels;
but here to exclude them altogether. In the previous chapter they
had their place: the law was given by angels; they are servants, on
God's part, of the heirs of salvation. In chapter 2 they have no
place, they do not reign; the world to come is not made subject to
them -- that is, this habitable earth, directed and governed as it
will be when God shall have accomplished that which He has spoken
of by the prophets.

All things put under the feet of the Son of Man

The order of the world, placed in relationship with Jehovah
under the law, or "lying in darkness," has been interrupted by the
rejection of the Messiah, who has taken His place at the right hand
of God on high, His enemies being not yet given into His hand for
judgment, because God is carrying on His work of grace, and
gathering out the assembly. But He will yet establish a new order
of things on the earth; this will be "the world to come." Now that
world is not made subject to angels. The testimony given in the Old
Testament with regard to this is as follows: "What is man, that
thou art mindful of him; or the son of man that thou visitest him?
Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels; thou hast
crowned him with glory and honour; thou hast set him over the works
of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet." Thus all
things without exception (save He who has made them subject to
Him), are, according to the purpose of God, put under the feet of
man, and in particular of the Son of man.

The testimony of psalms 1, 2 and 8 to Christ made lower than
the angels as man, rejected and exalted

When studying the Book of Psalms, we saw that which I recall
here, namely, that this testimony in Psalm 8 is, with regard to the
position and dominion of Christ as man, an advance upon Psalm
2. Psalm 1 sets before us the righteous man, accepted of God, the
godly remnant with which Christ connected Himself; Psalm 2, the
counsels of God respecting His Messiah, in spite of the efforts
made by the kings and governors of the earth. God establishes Him
as King in Zion, and summons all the kings to do homage to Him whom
He proclaimed to be His Son on the earth. Afterwards we see that
being rejected the remnant suffer, and this Psalm 2 is what Peter
quotes to prove the rising up of the powers of the earth, Jewish
and Gentile, against Messiah (Acts 4: 25). But Psalm 8 shows that
all this only served to enlarge the sphere of His glory. Christ
takes the position of man and the title of Son of man, and enjoys
His rights according to the counsels of God; and, made lower than
the angels, He is crowned with glory and honour. And not only are
the kings of the earth made subject to Him, but all things, without
exception, are put under His feet.* It is this which the apostle
quotes here. The Christ had already been rejected, and His being
established as King in Zion put off to be accomplished at a later
period. He had been exalted to the right hand of God, as we have
seen; and the wider title had accrued to Him, although the result
was not yet accomplished.

{*Compare the answer of Christ to Nathanael at the end of John
1; also Matthew 17 and Luke 9, where the disciples are forbidden to
announce Him as the Christ, and He declares He is about to suffer
as Son of man, but shows them the coming glory.}

The partial fulfillment of psalm 8 a guarantee of its
completion; why Christ was made lower than angels; crowned with
glory and honour

To this the epistle here calls our attention. We see not yet the
accomplishment of all that this Psalm announces, namely, that all
things should be put under His feet; but a part is already
fulfilled, a guarantee to the heart of the fulfilment of the
whole. Made a little lower than the angels in order to suffer
death, He is crowned with glory and honour. He has suffered death,
and He is crowned in reward for His work, by which He perfectly
glorified God in the place where He had been dishonoured, and saved
man (those who believe in Him) where man was lost. For He was made
lower than the angels, in order that, by the grace of God, He
should taste death for all things. It appears to me that the words
"for the suffering of death," and "a little lower than the angels"
go together; and "so that by the grace of God" is a general phrase
connected with the whole truth stated.

Entering into the circumstances where men were and undergoing
the consequences; made perfect through sufferings; we taste death
because of sin;, He because of grace for sin

This passage then, which is thus applied to the Lord, presents
Him as exalted to heaven when He had undergone the death which gave
Him a right to all in a new way while waiting till all is put under
His feet. But there is another truth connected with this. He had
undertaken the cause of the sons whom God is bringing to glory, and
therefore He must enter into the circumstances in which they were
found, suffer the consequences thereof, and be treated according to
the work He had undertaken. It was a reality; and it was fitting
that God should vindicate the rights of His glory, and should
maintain it with reference to those who had dishonoured Him, and
that He should treat the One who had taken their cause in hand, and
who stood before Him in their name, as representing them in that
respect. God would bring the captain of their salvation to
perfection through sufferings. He was to undergo the consequences
of the situation into which He had come. His work was to be a
reality, according to the measure of the responsibility which He
had taken upon Himself, and it involved the glory of God where sin
was. He must therefore suffer; He must taste death. It is by the
grace of God that He did so -- we, because of sin; He, because of
grace for sin.

Christ and the sanctified ones as all one company; not ashamed
to call these His brethren

This shows us the Christ standing in the midst of those who are
saved, whom God brings to glory, although at their head. It is this
which our epistle sets before us -- He who sanctifies (the Christ),
and they who are sanctified (the remnant set apart for God by the
Spirit) are all of one: an expression, the force of which is easily
apprehended, but difficult to express, when one abandons the
abstract nature of the phrase itself. Observe that it is only of
sanctified persons that this is said. Christ and the sanctified
ones are all one company, men together in the same position before
God. But the idea goes a little farther.

It is not of one and the same Father; had it been so, it could
not have been said, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." He
could not then do otherwise than call them brethren.

If we say "of the same mass" the expression may be pushed too
far, as though He and the others were of the same nature as
children of Adam, sinners together. In this case He would have to
call every man His brother; whereas it is only the children whom
God has given Him, "sanctified" ones, that He so calls. But He and
the sanctified ones are all as men in the same nature and position
together before God. When I say "the same," it is not in the same
state of sin, but the contrary, for they are the Sanctifier and the
sanctified, but in the same truth of human position as it is before
God as sanctified to Him; the same as far forth as man when He, as
the sanctified one, is before God. On this account He is not
ashamed to call the sanctified His brethren.

The children given Him called His brethren only when His work
was finished

This position is entirely gained by resurrection; for although,
in principle, the children were given to Him before, yet He only
called them His brethren when He had finished the work which
enabled Him to present them with Himself before God. He said indeed
"mother, sister, brother"; but He did not use the term "my
brethren," [as in John 20] until He said to Mary of Magdala, "Go to
my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your
Father, and to my God and your God." Also in Psalm 22 it is when
He had been heard from the horns of the unicorn, that He declared
the name of a Deliverer-God to His brethren, and that He praised
God in the midst of the assembly.

The disciples' link with the Father not formed until after
Christ's resurrection

He spoke to them of the Father's name while on earth, but the
link itself could not be formed; He could not introduce them to the
Father, until the grain of wheat, falling into the ground, had
died; until then He remained alone, whatever might be the
revelations that He made to them; and in fact, He declared the name
of His Father to those whom He had given Him. Still He had actually
taken the human position, and He Himself was in this relationship
with God. He kept them in the Father's name, they were not yet
united to Him in this position; but He was as man in the
relationship with God in which they also should be, when brought in
by redemption into association with Himself. That which He does in
the latter part of the Gospel by John is to place His disciples --
in the explanations He gave of the condition in which He left them
-- in the position which He in fact had held in relationship with
His Father on earth, and in testimony to the world, the glory of
His Person as representing and revealing His Father being
necessarily distinct. And, in seeking to associate with them, He
associated them with Himself and Himself with them when He ascended
to heaven, although no longer corporeally subject to the trials of
their position.*

{*This however in relationship with God. They did not represent
nor make known the Father as He did. Also, while we are brought
into the same glory with Christ and the same relationship with the
Father, the personal glory of Christ as Son is always carefully
secured. It has been justly remarked to the same purpose by
another, that He never says "our" Father with the disciples. He
tells them to say "our," but says "my and your," and it is much
more precious.}

Christ calling His people "brethren" only when risen;
associating godly men, the remnant, with Himself

He was not ashamed then to call them brethren, saying, though
risen, yea, only when risen, "I will declare thy name unto my
brethren, I will praise thee in the midst of the assembly." And
speaking of the remnant separated from Israel, He says, "Behold I
and the children whom God hath given me are for signs unto the two
houses of Israel"; and again, "I will put my trust in him" --
another quotation from Isaiah 8. So in the Psalms, especially in
Psalm 16, He declares that He does not take His place as God -- "my
goodness extendeth not to thee," but that He identifies Himself
with the excellent of the earth -- that all His delight is in
them. This is again the remnant of Israel called by grace.

Christ associates these sanctified men, godly men on earth, with
Himself. In the passage quoted it is still His place on earth; His
sufferings, His exaltation, future glory, divinity are, as we have
seen, added here.

Christ conforming Himself to the children's position; taking
part in flesh and blood; the reason; Satan conquered

Having taken this place as of, but at the head of, the chosen
band -- their servant in all things, He must conform Himself to
their position. And this He did: the children being partakers of
flesh and blood, He took part in the same; and this, in order that
by death He might put an end to the dominion of him who had the
power of death, and deliver those who, through fear of death, had
been subjected all their life to the yoke of bondage.

Here also (the apostle seeking always to display the glorious
and efficacious side, even of that which was most humbling, in
order to accustom the weak heart of the Jews to that portion of the
Gospel) we find that the Lord's work goes far beyond the limits of
a presentation of the Messiah to His people. Not only is He
glorious in heaven, but He has conquered Satan in the very place
where he exercised his sad dominion over man, and where the
judgment of God lay heavily upon man.

The motive and means of man's deliverance; the seed of Abraham

Moved by a profound love for man, the Son -- become the Son of
man -- enters in heart and in fact into all the need, and submits
to all the circumstances, of man in order to deliver him. He takes
(for He was not in it before) flesh and blood, in order to die,
because man was subjected to death; and (in order to destroy him
who exercised his dominion over man through death, and made him
tremble all his lifetime in the expectation of that terrible
moment, which testified of the judgment of God and the inability of
man to escape the consequences of sin) the condition into which
disobedience to God had plunged him. For verily the Lord did not
undertake the cause of angels, but that of the seed of Abraham, and
in order to proclaim the work that was necessary for them, and to
represent them efficaciously and really before God, He must needs
put Himself into the position and the circumstances in which that
seed were found though not the state they were personally in.

It will be remarked here, that it is still a family owned of
God, which is before our eyes, as the object of the Saviour's
affection and care -- the children whom God had given Him children
of Abraham after the flesh, if in that condition they answered to
the designation of "seed of Abraham" (this is the question of John
8: 37-39), or his children according to the Spirit, if grace gives
it them.

Christ the priest able to sympathise with His own in all their
conflicts and difficulties

These truths introduce priesthood. As Son of man, He had been
made a little less than the angels, and, crowned already with glory
and honour, was hereafter to have all things put under His
feet. This we do not yet see. But He took this place of humiliation
in order to taste death for the whole system that was afar from
God, and to gain the full rights of the second Man, by glorifying
God there, where the creature had failed through weakness, and
where also the enemy, having deceived man by his subtlety, had
dominion over him (according to the righteous judgment of God) in
power and malice. At the same time he tasted death for the special
purpose of delivering the children whom God would bring to glory,
taking their nature and gathering them together as sanctified ones
around Himself, He not being ashamed to call them brethren. But it
was thus that He was to present them now before God, according to
the efficacy of the work which He had accomplished for them; He
would become a priest, being able through His life of humiliation
and trial here below, to sympathise with His own in all their
conflicts and difficulties.

Suffering or yielding; the flesh does not suffer but enjoys;
the new man's need of succour against the flesh

He suffered -- never yielded. We do not suffer when we yield to
temptation: the flesh takes pleasure in the things by which it is
tempted. Jesus suffered, being tempted, and He is able to succour
them that are tempted. It is important to observe that the flesh,
when acted upon by its desires, does not suffer. Being tempted, it,
alas! enjoys. But when, according to the light of the Holy Ghost
and the fidelity of obedience, the Spirit resists the attacks of
the enemy, whether subtle or persecuting, then one suffers. This
the Lord did, and this we have to do. That which needs succour is
the new man, the faithful heart, and not the flesh. I need succour
against the flesh, and in order to mortify all the members of the
old man.

Needed help given by the One who has suffered, being tempted;
Jesus' faithfulness and love equally perfect

Here the needed help refers to the difficulties of the faithful
saint in fulfilling all the will of God. This is where he suffers,
this is where the Lord -- who has suffered -- can succour him. He
trod this path, He learnt in it that which can be suffered there
from the enemy, and from men. A human heart feels it, and Jesus had
a human heart. Besides, the more faithful the heart is, the more
full of love to God, and the less it has of that hardness which is
the result of intercourse with the world, the more will it suffer.
Now there was no hardness in Jesus. His faithfulness and His love
were equally perfect. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with
grief and weariness. He suffered being tempted.*

{*Four distinct grounds may be noticed in the chapter for the
humiliation of Jesus: it became God -- there was His glory; the
destruction of Satan's power; reconciliation or really propitiation
by His death; and capacity for sympathy in priesthood.}